Economy of England

England has been a leader in manufacturing since the Industrial Revolution began there in the 1700’s. England produces most of the United Kingdom’s industrial and farm products. England’s ideal location on the busy North Atlantic shipping lanes – and its many excellent harbors – have helped make it the United Kingdom’s center of trade. Service industries are also an important part of England’s economy.

Service industries employ about 70 percent of English workers. England’s most important service industries include banking and insurance. London is an international financial center. Its major financial institutions include the Bank of England, the United Kingdom’s national bank; the London Stock Exchange, one of the world’s busiest stock exchanges; and Lloyd’s, the famous worldwide insurance society. Other important service industries in England include tourism, transportation and communications, education, and health care.

Manufacturing provides jobs for about 20 percent of the work force. Most of the United Kingdom’s exports are goods manufactured in England. For many years, almost all of England’s factories were built near coal fields, close to their source of power. Today, electric power, oil, and gas are being used more and more. As a result, many new industries have developed around London and in the southeastern section of England, where there is little coal.

England’s chief manufactured products include beverages, chemicals, clothing, electronic equipment, engines for military aircraft, fabricated steel products, footwear, leather goods, paper, processed foods, tobacco, and woolen cloth and other textiles. England is also a leader in printing and publishing.

Agriculture and fishing. England’s chief agricultural products include barley, cattle, chickens and eggs, fruits, milk, potatoes, sheep, sugar beets, and wheat. England’s shallow coastal waters provide excellent fishing. Cod, haddock, and mackerel are the principal fishes caught in English waters. The main fishing ports are Hull on the North Sea coast and Fleetwood on the Irish Sea coast.

Mining. Oil deposits and fields of natural gas lie in the North Sea, east of the island of Great Britain. The United Kingdom began pumping natural gas from North Sea wells in 1967, and it began pumping petroleum from the sea in 1975. The production of natural gas and petroleum has increased rapidly since then and has greatly benefited England’s economy.

England once ranked as a major coal producer. The largest coal fields extend along both sides of the Pennine Chain into the Midlands. Coal output has been declining steadily, however, because of the increased use of oil, natural gas, and nuclear power. England’s coal industry has also suffered competition from lower-priced coal imported from Poland and South Africa.

England’s iron ore production, which was once important to the steel industry, has declined. Most deposits of high-grade ore have been exhausted, and most of the ore that England uses has to be imported.

Southwestern England has fine china clay, which is used in making pottery. Southeastern England has deposits of chalk, which is used to make cement.

Transportation and communication. England has an extensive system of motorways (expressways) that link London with other major industrial centers. Roads and railroads carry passenger and freight traffic. England has dozens of ports of commercial significance. The most important are London, Tees and Hartlepool, Grimsby and Immingham, Southampton, and Liverpool. England also has a widespread inland waterway system, but these rivers and canals are more important for recreational boating than for transporting freight.

Ferry services and hovercraft (vehicles that ride over water on a cushion of air) carry passengers across the English Channel between England and France. In 1987, the United Kingdom and France began construction of a railroad tunnel beneath the English Channel. The tunnel was completed in 1994 (see Channel Tunnel).

England has approximately 80 daily newspapers. About 15 of them, including The Sun, The Times, and The Daily Telegraph, circulate throughout the United Kingdom.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), a public corporation, provides radio and television services. Other broadcasting services are controlled by the Radio Authority and the Independent Television Commission (ITC). The BBC has no commercials.